What ACTUALLY went wrong?

[andy]

It has always seemed that we have players that like to run with the ball, and are very good on early season pitches when the ball can be zipped around and then as soon as the pitches get heavier we haven't seemed able to adapt. This season even our pitch has suffered with the extreme wet weather which has perhaps exacerbated the situation. Only 5 wins since beating Sudbury on 14 October

That's a really good call. We do have/have had an abundance of small, zippy players for whom the quality of the pitch is crucial for them to play to their best.

[TractionJackson]

No offence meant and no need for such suspicion. I personally think this forum stuggles with the concept that some may have a different opinion to the vast majority. I don't mean to post drivel or arouse any suspicion, I just like to put my view to what I thought was an open question

Spot on, this.

Disagree with the hive and you'll get called out for not understanding football and posting drivel. Fact.

[TractionJackson]

It has always seemed that we have players that like to run with the ball, and are very good on early season pitches when the ball can be zipped around and then as soon as the pitches get heavier we haven't seemed able to adapt. This season even our pitch has suffered with the extreme wet weather which has perhaps exacerbated the situation. Only 5 wins since beating Sudbury on 14 October

That's a really good call. We do have/have had an abundance of small, zippy players for whom the quality of the pitch is crucial for them to play to their best.

And yep, I'd agree with this. 3G pitch rubbish not included.

It's great having a few 5footers who would smash Soccer AMs Skills School for fun and are basically unplayable at this level when their tails are up and pitch allows. Trouble hits when the weather turns and every team out-muscles and out-jumps them and suddenly it's like we're playing with 9 men (or 8 with one guy half a pitch away waiting for a long ball).

[Seamus]

Back to the original question. My gut feeling for what it is worth is a lack of clean sheets, yes I know we have a poor record at the other end but after four clean sheets in August, very few since.

So what do I expect of RP, probably build from the back, and expect our current defenders and keeper to be under the microscope and possibly initial signings to be defensive players. Will that go down well here, I doubt it, however if we can fix the leaky bucket that solid foundation will serve us well.

[fairweatherfan]

Lots of perceptive comments here, but I also think lack of set piece threat has hurt us massively. If we'd just scored another, say, five from set plays we'd be in a very different situation.

In short, the team was too small and lacked someone with half decent delivery, and then once confidence had drained, it wasn't easily rediscovered.

[TractionJackson]

Back to the original question. My gut feeling for what it is worth is a lack of clean sheets, yes I know we have a poor record at the other end but after four clean sheets in August, very few since.

So what do I expect of RP, probably build from the back, and expect our current defenders and keeper to be under the microscope and possibly initial signings to be defensive players. Will that go down well here, I doubt it, however if we can fix the leaky bucket that solid foundation will serve us well.

The defence is a strange one isn't it?

On one hand, we concede pretty much every match. Even back in the halcyon days of the late summer there were stray goals making the end of games interesting.

On the other, Wynter and Taylor are solid, Eze is a Forum Favourite and the last time anyone whispered anything close to questioning the keeper there was a National Platty Day declared on Twitter.

[drummyb]

I also think after promotion we had the 'bounce' and confidence to go at teams. I think Macclesfield was our undoing. They completely outplayed us and made us look very, very ordinary. To me that's where the rot started to set, when actually the pitches were still playable. As others have said, we are very small and easily out muscled. We can play some bright attacking football, but its pointless if it breaks down time after time, and teams learned to throw players around Miracle and the attacking threat was gone.

Im completely at a loss why people think nothing had gone wrong, when we were plummeting alarmingly. The football was stale and idea less with an over reliance on hoofing it up with no real purpose. And that wasnt the first time either, even when we were winning games. It still caused discontent. Tinkering with team selection, signing players that we already had enough for, for them to leave became farcial.

Defeat after defeat, insipid performance after insipid performance. To say the fans are unrealistic is breathtaking. I dont think its unrealistic to want to watch a team that at least looks like it knows what we're doing, and fans play no part once they take to the field. Despite the 'unrealiastic' expectations, people have supported and cheered on that team in every game.

It was never going to be allowed to continue as it did and much respect to Paul for realising he couldn't do anymore and stepping back.

One final point, and I may be wholly incorrect, but I beleive most of the players we have bought in, came from clubs at our previous level, with no real experience of this one. That may have some baring.

[Josh1873]

I'm genuinely confused as to how you can not see that something has gone wrong? It's not an opinion or a subjective view. It's a fact. There is no arguing against it.

We started the season as follows; Position 2nd P9 W5 D4 L0 Pts 19
Since then we have gone; Position 11th P22 W6 D4 L12 Pts 22

Let's be very blunt and honest here, this isn't a one off, or something that has happened because we're at a higher level, this has been a theme during Smith's time here. There is clearly something about his management style that lends itself to a good start, but somewhere down the line something happens that he just cannot fix. Luckily we possessed superior quality at the level below to scrape results and maintain a healthy league position, however we aren't afforded that luxury at our current level. Let's not let promotion cloud our memories, there was a clear dip in performances in each of the two previous season once we suffered the first league defeat.

As I've said time and time again, I did not expect this seasons start to continue, and I expected some drop off. But I didn't expect a complete implosion, either. And no, this isn't some witch hunt against Paul Smith. However, by his own admission something had to change. Clearly Keith agreed too. Fans haven't hounded him out, or whatever narrative it is YeltzBaby is trying to spin. Keith is an astute man and has this clubs best interests at heart, this decision was made with his own mind and with (assumingly) a frank and honest conversation with Paul, where it was agreed it was best for all parties to move on. There is no way Keith would have been influenced by a few Twatter posts or what us idiots on here say! So let's put that argument to bed.

So, to answer Andy's question what went wrong? It's difficult to answer, if it was easy then Paul would have worked it out. There are, however a few things that I believe led to our downfall:

- Constant chopping and changing of players. You need a consistent XI, injuries, suspensions and loss of individual player form permitting. This is something I hope Penn addresses. Assess your squad, pick your best XI and stick with it.
- We have a quality squad, I maintain that, however we have too many players of similar abilities and the same type of player. We need a more varied group of players that each bring something different to the squad. It's all a bit samey. We sub off one player and basically bring on a carbon copy player on.
- Set pieces/coaching. How many times have we conceded from a set piece? How often have we scored from a set piece? Even during our excellent start this, as well as conceding sloppy goals, was a worrying theme. It hasn't been addressed despite a turnover in personnel.
- What is worked on in training? I've heard worrying stories about our training from multiple people. It could, of course, be bullshit, but it would explain a lot if they are true.
- Fractured dressing room? The players don't seem to like each other on the pitch, maybe I'm reading too much into body language, but the attitude of some players, particularly when we go a goal down, doesn't seem right to me.
- Paul seems to be 'one of the lads', for example going away on holiday during post season with some of the squad. Has this bred a laid back and complacent attitude between players and manager? Do the players take playing for this club seriously enough, or do they see it as a laugh with their clique?

Would I have taken 10th at this stage of the season way back I August? Yes. But I do not accept that all is well and that nothing needed to change. It has gone wrong, and the club have made the correct decision to move on from Smith.

I don't recall seeing any unrealistic expectations, either. Has anyone said they expect us to win the league or achieve promotion? I believe the highest expectation I've seen is for us to be in the play-off positions. That's a little too far, for me, but at the same time, it shouldn't be outside the realms of possibility.

[old git]

I'm genuinely confused as to how you can not see that something has gone wrong? It's not an opinion or a subjective view. It's a fact. There is no arguing against it.

We started the season as follows; Position 2nd P9 W5 D4 L0 Pts 19
Since then we have gone; Position 11th P22 W6 D4 L12 Pts 22

Let's be very blunt and honest here, this isn't a one off, or something that has happened because we're at a higher level, this has been a theme during Smith's time here. There is clearly something about his management style that lends itself to a good start, but somewhere down the line something happens that he just cannot fix. Luckily we possessed superior quality at the level below to scrape results and maintain a healthy league position, however we aren't afforded that luxury at our current level. Let's not let promotion cloud our memories, there was a clear dip in performances in each of the two previous season once we suffered the first league defeat.

As I've said time and time again, I did not expect this seasons start to continue, and I expected some drop off. But I didn't expect a complete implosion, either. And no, this isn't some witch hunt against Paul Smith. However, by his own admission something had to change. Clearly Keith agreed too. Fans haven't hounded him out, or whatever narrative it is YeltzBaby is trying to spin. Keith is an astute man and has this clubs best interests at heart, this decision was made with his own mind and with (assumingly) a frank and honest conversation with Paul, where it was agreed it was best for all parties to move on. There is no way Keith would have been influenced by a few Twatter posts or what us idiots on here say! So let's put that argument to bed.

So, to answer Andy's question what went wrong? It's difficult to answer, if it was easy then Paul would have worked it out. There are, however a few things that I believe led to our downfall:

- Constant chopping and changing of players. You need a consistent XI, injuries, suspensions and loss of individual player form permitting. This is something I hope Penn addresses. Assess your squad, pick your best XI and stick with it.
- We have a quality squad, I maintain that, however we have too many players of similar abilities and the same type of player. We need a more varied group of players that each bring something different to the squad. It's all a bit samey. We sub off one player and basically bring on a carbon copy player on.
- Set pieces/coaching. How many times have we conceded from a set piece? How often have we scored from a set piece? Even during our excellent start this, as well as conceding sloppy goals, was a worrying theme. It hasn't been addressed despite a turnover in personnel.
- What is worked on in training? I've heard worrying stories about our training from multiple people. It could, of course, be bullshit, but it would explain a lot if they are true.
- Fractured dressing room? The players don't seem to like each other on the pitch, maybe I'm reading too much into body language, but the attitude of some players, particularly when we go a goal down, doesn't seem right to me.
- Paul seems to be 'one of the lads', for example going away on holiday during post season with some of the squad. Has this bred a laid back and complacent attitude between players and manager? Do the players take playing for this club seriously enough, or do they see it as a laugh with their clique?

Would I have taken 10th at this stage of the season way back I August? Yes. But I do not accept that all is well and that nothing needed to change. It has gone wrong, and the club have made the correct decision to move on from Smith.

I don't recall seeing any unrealistic expectations, either. Has anyone said they expect us to win the league or achieve promotion? I believe the highest expectation I've seen is for us to be in the play-off positions. That's a little too far, for me, but at the same time, it shouldn't be outside the realms of possibility.

As ever, a sober Josh makes excellent reading

[RobYeltz]

Josh has stolen my thunder with some of the points he has made.

I'm not so sure things went wrong as such, it felt more like things weren't going right. My expectation for the season was to finish mid table, exactly where we are, however after such a good start I was hopeful of seeing us do slightly better. Not promotion, not even a play off but perhaps somewhere in-between play offs and mid table. The fall off I think is down to a number of factors.

1) When we were doing well, crowds well over 1,000 - we didn't strengthen our squad sufficiently. Now I get that this is very much a 'hindsight' decision here, and there's an argument of course for 'why change what's working?' Kieran Morris left and it took a while for Taylor to come in and replace him (in effect) even though doing well it was very much when we were pretty widely recognised as being a little weak physically. If teams stopped Miracle we pretty much would struggle to score.

2) The balance of the squad I don't feel was quite right, each of the players I mention are all very able players, who bring similar strengths to the squad but Donnelly, Jack, Mini, Hicky, Cobourne all similar size players and at times are bullied out of the game. If we have more than two from that 5 in the starting XI we're going to find it hard to impose ourselves on the game, particularly when pitches start to deteriorate.

3) Set pieces - they've been abysmal, only one goal scored from a corner all season and conceded plenty tells a story. Not once have I seen us even remotely look like we've even tried anything in a game that we've worked on in training. Poorly delivered near post corners that failed to beat the first defender over and over and over

4) Goals - Miracle scored against Berkhamsted on the 18th November and didn't score again until Redditch on 10th February, yet he's still a top scorer in the league. The lad has done well, he's far from the finished article and he has things that he needs to improve in his game but the kid works his spuds off. During those games that Miracle didn't score we scored only 10 goals, of which one of them was an own goal, Donnelly scored two versus Bromsgrove, Gregs got 2 in 2 versus Kettering and Long Eaton. We don't score enough goals from around the team.

I think if just one of the four was an issue, we might not have fallen away, the fact is, all four happened - at the same time.